Air Marshal AP Singh, who has more than 5,000 hours of flying experience, assumed charge as the new Vice Chief of the Indian Air Force on Wednesday.

He succeeded Air Marshal Sandeep Singh who retired on Tuesday after more than 39 years of service.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College and National Defence College, the Air Marshal was commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF on December 21, 1984.

The officer is a qualified flying instructor and an experimental test pilot with more than 5,000 hours of flying experience on a variety of fixed and rotary wing aircraft.

In the course of his career, the officer has commanded an operational fighter squadron and a frontline air base.

As a test pilot, he led the MiG-29 upgrade project management team at Moscow.           He was also the project director (flight test) at the National Flight Test Centre looking after the flight testing of the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas.

He has held important staff appointments of Air Defence Commander at South Western Air Command and Senior Air Staff Officer at Eastern Air Command. Prior to assuming his current appointment, he was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Central Air Command.

The Air Marshal is a recipient of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal.

On the occasion of taking over the charge of vice chief, he laid a wreath at the National War Memorial to honour the armed forces personnel who made the supreme sacrifice for the nation.

Following this, he was accorded a ceremonial Guard of Honour at Air Headquarters.